Pages

1/23/14

Creating My Gallery Frame Hallway... & a few decor updates

This week's decor post is all about how I've gotten our upstairs "gallery hallway" started. Or "frame hallway" if you will... For now, it's just a part of a wall, but the idea is to straight-up frame-wall the heck out of the hallway over the years.

Because like I mentioned in last week's blue and white post, I like a home to feel "collected". And also because I plan on living here foreverrrr (and our lives together are just really getting started here), you have to take collections one day at a time. If I ran out and bought 50 white frames and covered the whole hallway, I'd be all like, "ok, so what the heck am I going to do here for the next 50 years...". You know?

So the wall/hallway project has started...

If you all have ever tried to hang a "gallery wall" before, props to you if you don't create swiss cheese out of said wall. Seriously, it can be super difficult to get all the frames hung exactly how you want, especially if you do a grid-type pattern like I did where they do actually need to line up pretty evenly.

First off, I'm the most impatient person on the planet, so when I created walls like this at our previous house, I just went for it. And created swiss cheese walls. So I decided to give an actual "technique" a whirl.

So I went to Pinterest and found literally over one hundred pins on this method (in some form) of hanging a frame wall by tracing the frames and hanging the paper on the walls. It's not some super unique, groundbreaking method, it's just kind of a common-sense way to do it.

I definitely didn't follow any exact step-by-step instructions, I just got the gist of the method and went for it.

It worked awesomely! Here's how I did it...

K, so first (well, obviously after you select where you want it to actually go on the wall), lay out your frames on the ground in the design you want.

...Actually, where it actually goes is pretty important. Think about the future. There's nothing worse than spending all that time hanging them, only to realize you've really left no options to add to it down the road.

*Furry presh helper not absolutely necessary. But it helps.
Then, I traced my frames on some packing paper that the frames were actually wrapped in (like kraft paper, or old wrapping paper works great too). Yeah, almost a year here and these babies were still wrapped and sitting in the floor of our bedroom exactly where they landed on moving day.

My frames are all the same size, which made this super easy because I only traced one, then stacked up all the paper and cut all at once.

Then, I simply taped them to the wall with some scotch tape in the same design I created on the floor with the actual frames. I started from the top center piece and spaced them out in a way that kept them level and separated the same amount. I didn't use a level, just because all of my frames had only one hook in the center on the back, so leveling wasn't crucial. However, if you want to be precise, you totally can bust out the level. I eye-balled everything.

As you can see below, I started further toward the top because I plan on adding one more row of frames to the bottom eventually. I also have room on the sides too which is nice.

So I mentioned that all the frames had one center-mounted hook for hanging on the back. Well, all except for one that for some strange reason had two hooks on the back. These are a pain. If you're starting a gallery wall of your own, save yourself the headache and shop for frames with one center hook on the back. So. Much. Easier.
Anyway, I have no clue why this one is different. It's the same brand and everything. So weird. So this is a super great tip for hanging those pesky double-hooked frames that works every time.

Bust out the painter's tape.
Tape it straight across the two hooks (if you look closely, you can see them through the tape), and with something sharp, make little holes where the nail would go at the top of the hooks.

Then, pull the tape off, and put it on the wall to create a perfect guide (be sure to level this one). So in my case, I applied it to the paper, where the hooks would hit.

Then, I just put nails at the top center of the paper (I actually spaced the nails down about an inch from the top of the paper), pull the paper off (it will rip right through the nail), and hang your frame.

Kind of couldn't believe how easy it was.

I can totally imagine that extra row on the bottom, another vertical group on each side, and some more on that wall between the doorways.

Can you see it?? I totally can. ;)

If I were going to leave it just like that, I would have spaced the whole thing down further, maybe around where the top of the door frames are. But I'm going for a different full-wall covered in frames look, not just one group.

As for what the photos actually are, they're photos we've taken of mostly landscapes of pretty places we've traveled together. With one photo of us standing in front of the Hollywood sign in the middle. Random fact about me... Photos of myself everywhere in my own home makes me nervous. I just can't. We of course have a few wedding photos, and more photos of Waylon around than I'd like to admit, but I'd rather display a few special ones of us, and frame more scenic photos I've taken.

Don't even get me started on what it will look like once we have a child. Baby photo explosion up in here. We will neeeeed all that wall space...haha.

So that's the plan! TONS of frames. I actually usually prefer black frames, but for this hallway, I'm doing white. I just like the way it's looking. These 9 white frames were actually used in our master bedroom at our last house hung in a grouping very similar to this above our dresser.

I've got lots of black frames too that are still wrapped and packed from the move as well that I'm going to create a gallery out of going down the stairs into our basement. I just like the look of sticking with similar-colored and style frames. It's more cohesive and you can actually get away with crazier groupings and adding in an odd one here and there as you collect more.

I get mine at Target, Pottery Barn, and Ikea. They always have them (seriously, for years), so when I need new ones, I never have to worry about finding them. Definitely don't get obsessed with thinking they all have to match exactly either.

Here are some more frame "groupings" around our home so far...

This is a pretty group of photos I took in Paris of random architecture. I grouped these fairly close together in our foyer going up the stairs so that I could add some pretty sconces on each side eventually. Or maybe even more of these frames!

These are in our powder room on the main floor of the house. More on the re-do of that space here and here. It was a doozie...

Here are some of my favorite frames for grouping...

Also, for the sake of shoving as much decor stuff into this week's post as possible, here's a little something that ties into last week's blue and white post...

So since I changed around the foyer, my little crystal lamps I love so much were displaced. So I added them to our front living room/my office.

They sort of go with the larger one that has always been in there.

I added a few more of my blue and white vases and styled the table exactly the way it was for years at our last house. I always loved the large grouping of the blue and white vases.

So yeah, nothing super exciting, but that's where the lamps went...haha.

You are doing such a great job remodeling this home! It's amazing how a little paint, gorgeous décor and furniture, and your style can really turn a place into something totally different! I love the frame-wall!